Referees attached, detached, attached
At one stage in the appointment of referees in South Africa's, appointing unattached referees was seen as a virtue. That has changed a bit this year.
In the Currie Cup, the first competitions were tournaments. The first was in 1892, the second in 1894 and the third in 1895. In 1894 the opposing captains decided on the referee but there was just one referee - Alf Richards and he refereed every match. In the preparations for the 1895 tournament there was already much discussion around the appointment of "neutral" referees and that is what came to pass. The man who proposed neutral referees was EJ Platnauer of Transvaal, partly because Transvaal and Griquas did not want Richards. There is, it seems, nothing new under the sun!
The Cape Times condemned the Transvaal's condemnation: "The statement that a dead set was being made against Mr Alf Richards refereeing during the tournament by Griqualand West and the Transvaal is pretty well set aside by the appointment to that onerous post at a meeting of the South African Board held in Johannesburg and it is a pity that such a rumour affecting the bona fides of so keen a sportsman as Mr Richards should have been circulated. We have on the one hand the Board deliberately choosing him and on the other the statement that there are recollections of the refereeing at the previous tournament which would effectively prevent his being asked to act. Of course no referee is immaculate, and it is clear that the really good referee is born, not made; but down in these parts Mr Richards has acted as the umpire in club matches in which the rivalry has been very keen, and given every satisfaction. The fact is that some unthinking partisans of the Transvaal at last year's tournament blamed Mr Richards for allowing Powell (of Griqualand West) to score a try after he had obviously been in touch, but that was the fault of the linesman. It is satisfactory to find the statement in so practical a manner; but it is still more gratifying to know that Mr Richards will appear on the field in a rôle in which he is likely to prove even more useful to them."
When, in 1922, matches came to be played on a league basis instead of a tournament, the visiting team generally had a choice of local referees. If Transvaal were playing Western Province in Johannesburg, Transvaal would give Western Province three names to choose from.
This was a system than lasted well into the 1970s. It was superceded by a system where by the SA referees' Society would appoint two names to each match with a choice to be made by the visiting side. These referees would be unattached.
This system was superceded by the system that at present prevails - straight appointments of referees to match.
The first Currie Cup Final was played at Newlands in 1939 and Transvaal, captained by Fanie Louw chose Boy Louw, Fanie's brother, a Western Province referee. This system continued till 1972 when Piet Robbertse, who was the deputy president of Eastern Transvaal at the time and the No.1 referee in South Africa, refereed the Final between Eastern Transvaal, his home province, and Transvaal in Springs. He was chosen by Transvaal.
Doc Craven was at the match as president of the SA Rugby Board and afterwards, Robbertse, who was on the Board's laws committee, told him that it had been hard to referee his own side and that Eastern Transvaal players had actually been angry with him that he was doing them no favours. He said to Craven: "Doc, we must change. We must get unattached referees (onverbonde skeidsregters)"
Doc said: Do you feel strongly about it?"
Robbertse said: "Yes."
Craven said: "Then let's do it."
The next year the Final was between Northern Transvaal and Orange Free State and Robbertse was appointed to referee it, making him the last attached referee and the first unattached referee to referee a final of the Currie Cup.
The last?
In 2009 SANZAR moved away from unattached referees to a merit-based system of appointments. As a result Jonathan Kaplan refereed the Super 14 final even though a South African team was involved. Marius Jonker refereed a Currie Cup semifinal even though the Sharks were involved and he was from KwaZulu Natal. Before the semifinals had been played Kaplan was appointed to the Final and Western Province could have been one of the teams playing and at Newlands, and Kaplan is a Capetonian. In Christchurch Vinny Munro of Christchurch referee the final of the Air New Zealand Cup with his province Canterbury playing.
It seems that the much-vaunted system of unattached referees could be on the way out.